Frankly Hockey's Frank Seravalli (3/2/26)

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1:02Kayak, got that right. It is 535 at Oil Country, where guests receive guest certificates on Oilers Now to Japanese Village. It's a true celebration for the census. Quality and gradients and unmatched girls side experience, book your seat at J.V. Washington.ca, a lot of you have some strong opinions on the Oilers acquisition today of Conor Murphy. Hodgy, and I would say the majority of them have been probably on the positive side of the ledger. We're going to go to Frank sir of Olli momentarily. Hodgy says Bob, I'm sorry, but this is a team that has made a deep in all playoffs for the last four years. It should be far too mature to have their general manager provide a press conference with today's topic relative to team defense. He has Conor's deadline looming, and this year's regression won't be resolved with the Conor Murphy edition, and GM's How to Defend in today's NHL press conference. 852 days left in McDavid's contract, is Jury twice as good as Skinner is Murphy better

2:07than Gulak. That one comes to us from Hodgy. It's a little of you like the trade that's here from a guy who works the Chicago Black Hawks television broadcast. He also has frankly hockey at his Frank sir of Olli brought you by Summers drilling your trusted water well experts since 1917, visit Summers drilling dot com to request a quote today. Hello, Frank. How you doing? Pretty good. How you doing, Bob? Good. What are the Oilers getting in Conor Murphy? You work the games. They are getting a steady, dependable, predictable, reliable, and really well-liked defenseman who does just that. He's not flashy, not fancy, not going to pile up points for you, but when you expect him or expect your defenseman to be in the right place at the right time, that's what Conor Murphy is. He's going to be one of those under the radar deadline acquisitions that I believe when

3:11properly situated or slotted and deployed will really help Edmonton do exactly what they need. I mean, they needed someone that could play on the right side that could move Walman back to the left. They needed someone that could provide some predictability for someone like Darnell Nurse, and they need better stops. They need someone that can kill plays, and he's not going to win any awards, but I think what's really exciting about this from an Edmonton Oilers perspective is that if they can move Andrew Manjure Pony's contract, they're going to have, if my math is correct, somewhere around $3 million to spend between now and Friday, which could get them another serviceable piece. Possibly a third line center. All right. So, Frank, you've got your connection to Chicago. You work all the games I watched yesterday.

4:13I found your four lines for the Hawks next season to be quite interesting. This is an exciting team, Chicago. They're probably tracking about a year behind Centles A and maybe a year and a half behind Anaheim, but they're going to be good in years to come. So, you've got good contacts in that organization. Do you believe the Hawks had more than an Edmonton offer for Conor Murphy? I think they had a six plus themes that were interested in Conor Murphy, and in the end essentially what the Hawks let everyone around the league know they had sent out a message was first team to step up and give us a second round pick is the one who's going to get him. And Dan Bowling obviously has familiarity with Conor Murphy, but also when you look at the available defenseman on the market, if you were leaning toward pending UFA, essentially what your competition was Trevor Van Reamsdike, Jamie Alexiak, Mario Ferraro and Logan Stanley.

5:21Those were the five pending UFA D, only two of them are right shots, Murphy and Van Reamsdike, and Van Reamsdike has been a healthy scratch for chunks of this season with Washington. There's really only one defenseman pending UFA on the right side at a reasonable acquisition cost that did what the Hawks needed and they went out and got the guy. Yeah, I think it's interesting that Edmonton did not give up a 2027 number one here, Frank, but they gave up a second because you mentioned Mazio Pony and again, we're going to have stand on in about 50 minutes. He's probably going to have to come with a pick, right, because he's got negative trade equity right now. So you have to factor that in, but they said, they actually with Chicago talked about what a deal would look like for Murphy and for the Black Hawks to take on Manja Pony. And I believe that stretched into a first round pick. So it was something that the the oilers weren't comfortable doing right now, understandably,

6:26so better to give a second and something else will a fourth round pick or something I'm spitballing to move Manja Pony, maybe a third, depending on how desperate things are. Sorry, did you say a second and a third or fourth to move Manja Pony? No, I said a second for Murphy. Oh, okay. Thank you. Something, yes, for Manja Pony, rather to do that in a separate transaction than upgrade to a first. Yeah, interesting stuff. It's interesting because there, you know, Tyler Myers was another right shot, you specifically highlighted pending UFA's and as you know, Conor Murphy's dad, Gord worked with Chris Noblock for three years, Stan Bowman traded for Conor Murphy and that was a controversial trade because Joel Quinnville really liked Dick LaSharmals and but Conor Murphy became an entrenched part of the ox during a very challenging time and, you know, who better than you to speak to, you know, he was a leader both on and off the ice there.

7:29Was he not? Yes, he was. You're going to really come to like him. He has a great way about him, very mature, see things clearly is not afraid to speak up when required, not afraid to drop the gloves to defend a teammate if required or doesn't see something that he doesn't like. 805 games played only nine Stanley top playoff games and I think someone who's excited to get back to the post season and with that pedigree that you mentioned has dad also playing a long time in the NHL like he just gets it so he's going to be really well respected in that group and someone that when things got really thin for Chicago, like he was kind of one of the only guys that they would count on to lead. This episode is brought to you by State Farm, listening to this podcast Smart Move. Being financially savvy, smart move, another smart move, having State Farm help you create

8:34a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto, bundling. It's another way to save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there, prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Covered options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. I'm RJ Decker, the private investigator, uncovering the sunshine state's darkest secrets. Tuesdays, it's the premiere of ABC's hottest new cry show. RJ Freakin Decker as I live in breathe. He's up private eye. It's not a standard murder. And a public mass, trying to get some back to prison today. You go to prison one time, and suddenly it's all the jokes. RJ Decker, series premiere Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu. All right, so the Conox had Tyler Myers. He's got a year left in his deal, a six foot, you know, eight right shot, D, not nowhere near as good a penalty killer as Conor Murphy as Conor Murphy is one of the best penalty killing

9:35defense. Where are the Hawks? Are they first in the PK? I didn't look it up today. They are. They're first in the PK and actually they're on a run of 45 for 49 since Gen 3. Wow. And they scored two shorties. So they're really 47 for 49 in net PK effectiveness and Murphy was part of that. And one thing I should point out is as the Hawks went through this or sorry, not the Hawks. The Oilers went through this process and really looked around the league. One thing that they were trying to weigh is they've thought about Justin Falk who would have been a bit of a flashier pup mover. His contract and cap hit made it a little bit more difficult if not impossible. And then Oliver Ekman-Larson, the big thing that you'd have to weigh is this is a guy who essentially is 35 and has term on his deal.

10:37Are you ready and willing even if the cap hit works to take on the back end of that deal knowing that, hey, let's be honest, not all of the Oilers cap situation on the back end is perfect. Don't know. Nurse. But, you know, you've also got this Oliver Ekman-Larson, not Oliver Ekman-Larson. You've got Matthias Ekholm, excuse me, also extended for a number of years now. And if you've got guys that are playing later into their 30s, that maybe only want one of those. Yeah. Ekholm is a three-year extension at 4 million at Kixin next year at Wallman who has to play better. Okay? There's no way to share it, Godot. He has to elevate his game. His seven-year extension kicks in starting next season at 7 million per. Nurse is at 9.25 left, 9.25 per multiple years left in Evan Booshard in the first year. One of the years left on Nurse, did you say?

11:38Off the top by head, it's either three or four. I think three years left after this year might be four, might be four. In Booshard, who you know, there was a threat of an offer sheet for, I think we've seen why over the last three months, the numbers are unbelievable for Booshard. Like he's... Frank, he's the... And he didn't, he's squarely in the narth race. So... Really? I think so. He'd be on my ballot today if I'm sending in five. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's 13 defensemen in NHL history that got 20 points in 10 games. And he did not play in the live-puck era. He's... He's making plays. And he has... He's now the oiter's most time on ice defenseman on the PK until he added Conor Murphy. That's the other thing here. We just had Chris Proger on the air. I was just going to say, I think Murphy's addition is significant, not just for what he brings himself, but for the changes that they can now make to the rest of their defense

12:42pairs. You can put Wallman with Booshard now and take him off of the right side where he clearly couldn't play. You can move narth down to your third pair and sort of shelter him a little bit. And you could stick Murphy with that comb. If you wanted to, I'm not saying that's what they're going to do, but that would seem to make a lot of sense. So there's this puzzle that you can now put together in a different order that I think is really significant. And as mentioned, you can now take that savings that you have once you finally move manager Pony and go out and address a need up front. I think we both think it's inevitable that Maja Pony moves at some point. Is that fair? He's been in my top 10 on my trade target board for a long time. Toronto. All right. Let's start working around the league. And we got three Canadian teams that are for sure selling Toronto Calgary, Vancouver, May beliefs. They got Philly tonight. They dropped three straight. They were ugly losses. All of them. They're in a world of hurt. Not sure. I mean, coach and manager back next year, what are the leaves going to do?

13:47I mean, they can cut as deep as they wish. They can entertain some more core pieces like an Ackman Larson. They can just strictly deal with the pending UFA and Scott Lawton and Bobby McMahon. They can make this as interesting as they want to. And my suggestion, not that anyone listens to me, would be due as much as you can to get as low as you can in the standings the way the Boston Bruins did last year. They peeled off pieces left and right and core pieces at that and made really good trades. And now, in a really short period of time, it's entirely possible that James Hagen's who they were able to climb all the way up to number seven to get based on their finish. James Hagen's going to be playing NHL games for them this year at the at tail end of this season if they really wanted him to be. All right. So that's Toronto Calgary. Frank Calgary's been a bit more slow going.

14:51This market as a whole has been relatively slow going. They've had a lot of interest on Blake Coleman, not many firm offers. And again, they don't need to move these guys because they're not pending undershirt for agents, but Nazum Calgary has been the guy waiting in the wings for whenever Vincent Trollcheck moves. So that's the first order of business. And then teams will be trying to figure out how to improve down the middle and Calgary will become the it guy. And the dark horse, so to speak, would be McKenzie Weeger with the four years left on his deal at north of six million bucks that teams view him as this right shot defenseman. It's hard to get a top four right shot defenseman. And so he fits that category and teams have been calling. I would say that in order of likelihood to move, it would be Coleman, Cadbury, then Weeger.

15:54And I would put at this point in time based on what I've heard, the likelihood of Cadbury moving at south of 50%. Okay. If I was Calgary, I would not move white cloud. I'd hold on a white cloud. I think you did fit for them for a couple of years. I like that, white cloud. Yeah, me too. Vancouver. Anything goes, I mean, it's sort of like whatever isn't bolted down could be shaken loose. And I mean, what's bolted down is their young prospects and some of the guys getting their feet wet at the NHL level, including Z. William. I mean, outside of that, anything from Elias Pederson, if someone wants to make a real offer, although I think it's been not slow going, but it's been back and forth. So you've got Pederson, Connor Garland has drawn a lot of interest at six times six and still probably makes more sense is an off season deadline or off season summer acquisition.

16:59And I mean, I think Jake Dubrovsky is rather unlikely, same thing with Brock Besser, but like, I don't know that you can formally really rule out anything in Vancouver and we touch the briefly on Tyler Myers. Is there anybody that could be a surprise? What about say, and I don't want to like, I have all respect in the world. I'll give you a surprise. Here you go. Cory Perry in LA. The Kings are, I believe, I think the Kings are toast. Okay. How they react after this coaching change, which I viewed as a last ditch opportunity to get this team back in the mix with a jolt. But if another couple games go by and they're well out of it, I mean, who wouldn't want a really productive Cory Perry? How does the bonus structure work there, Frank? The bonuses that are earned with the team are the one who carries it. So any games played bonuses would have already been applied to the LA Kings cap.

18:02Good stuff. Frank, how do people follow you? And especially, make sure you plug frankly hockey. Yeah. Thanks. Frankly hockey, Monday to Friday, 12 noon Eastern, so 10 a.m. mountain time. And we have a two and a half hour trade deadline special on Friday, starting at 8 a.m. mountain. So me and John Buttergrass, and you can get it on YouTube, Twitter, or also on Victory Plus. Awesome stuff. North Dakota. Moving up to number one today, I believe in the NCAA. And you can still number one. Michigan, I saw one today that you are, is UND number two then or what? Two different polls, but Michigan was still the number one today, at least on the USA hockey, US. Okay. And on the other pole, I believe it's North Dakota. So there you go. Awesome stuff, Frank. Hey, look, Bob, I will be at the frozen for this year. So maybe you'll make a trip down to Vegas. The only way I'll be making a trip down to Vegas for the frozen for is if you haven't to know it is out of it then. And I don't plan on what, what if the schedule aligns, like you can't come down on an

19:04off day and do oilers now from, uh, to see, you know, I have no idea what you're talking about. I resemble that remark. Frank. Okay. See it. That is Frank. Sarah Valley. It is 452 oil country will come back with NHL today for elite promotional marketing and the orders now injury report. The all new 2026 Toyota RAV4 is here, building on everything drivers know and love about Toyota. With a redesigned look and modern tech that makes life behind the wheel easier than ever, the new RAV4 come standard as a hybrid, providing smooth, efficient performance for both city streets and longer journeys. Enjoy the legendary reliability Toyota is known for in the all new 2026 RAV4 learn and shop more at toyota.com Toyota, let's go places America leads the world in medicine development. It matters. We get new medicines first nearly three years faster, five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe.

20:07But China is racing to overtake us. Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead? When America leads America cures, let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn how at americacures.com, pay for by pharma. 456 in oil country, Bob Stoffer, Derek Scott, Kellan Kennedy, Amen Hashem all with you and oilers now. Ready for your next adventure, trust new ass travel, Alberta's family owned and operated travel experts since 1979 from European river cruises and all inclusive vacations to corporate incentive groups and luxury escapes. Their travel experts take care of every detail, making every trip stress free and personalized visit newestravel.com, your local travel experts for every journey. We've done close to 40 oilers now road trips. When these guys do a trip, they sell them and they do a good job with them because they care. Oilers now injury report brought to you by James H Brown, an associate's Alberta injury lawyers, heavy innards of injury law. Trent Brown's really grown James H Brown over 250 plus years of experience.

21:07They get you the best results. Mattias, you had marked to LTIR. I think he's going to go to, if I'm not mistaken, he's going to go, I believe Colorado to get his shoulder looked at, but he is already on LTIR. He's the only guy out right now for the Amazon Oilers. 20th cell today for elite promotional marketing, your local brand of merchandise, specialist, head to elite promo marketing.com. Well, we've already touched it, but the big news coming out of Edmonton today acquiring defenseman Connor Murphy from the Chicago black hocks in exchange for a second round pick. Chicago sends Murphy and they retain 50% of his salary six games on the NHL slate today. One of them is already over that Detroit Red Wings pick up a 4 to 2 win in Nashville over the predators. New York Rangers host the Columbus Blue Jackets Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, also at home. They have the Dallas stars Seattle Kraken hosts the Carolina Hurricanes and the LA Kings are at home for the Colorado Avalanche. Biggers field condors fell in both games this weekend, losing three to two to the Coachella

22:08Valley Firebirds on Saturday in a shootout. Then lost the Ontario Rain 4 to 2 yesterday and the Edmonton Oil Kings, a clean three-day, three-game weekend beating the Rebels in Red Deer 2 to nothing on Friday and smacking the left bridge Hurricanes at home six to nothing on Saturday and beating the Swift current Broncos in Rogers Place 3 to 2 in overtime last night. All right, and one note out of you sports Edmonton area product Howie Draper has wrapped up his 28-year career as head coach of the Alberta Pandas. They won 15 Canada West titles and eight university sport championships. I can tell you this because I shared an office with Howie back in 1999-2000 and how he was the captain, the fierce year that I did the play-by-play of the team with the late great John Sexmith of the Alberta Golden Bears. He was the captain of nobody fought for that Pandas program harder than Howie. And I know because one of the guys that he had often have spirited discussions about

23:16the Pandas was with me and he battled hard for everything that program got. He did a great job for a number of years and we wish him the best of luck in his post-pandas career, whatever choices he makes down the road. I don't know, maybe he's made enough money, he can retire. I don't know. Anyways, off to it, 880 news whether a traffic update with Thomas Dias and when we come back at Oilers now, Matthew Mondays for contract equipment. Two good and co-coffee creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk, and contain three grams of sugar per serving. It's 40% less than the 5 grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold, or frothy, two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one. Two good coffee creamers, real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local crogr in the creamer aisle.